


SEARCH

by a_fool



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Gen, characters + relationships added only as they become relevant, extensive worldbuilding, henry did not sign up for this and he regrets quite a lot, quite a lot of research notes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:14:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26357800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_fool/pseuds/a_fool
Summary: Lefty is a bear with a mission: Find the Marionette, trap them, and take them home. But this is Fazbear Entertainment we're talking about, and nothing ever goes right when that lot's involved.The first problem arises when Lefty wakes up before Henry can actually tell them what the Marionette is, and wanders off to explore a city nowhere near Hurricane, Utah, with no possible chance of completing their goal.As you can imagine, it can only get worse from there.(Designed to run in sync with FNaF Canon, but we're worldbuilding now babeyyyy!)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	SEARCH

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first instalment of a series overarching the FNaF lore, with the intention of providing a satisfying storyline while retaining at least some of the canon! 
> 
> Quite a lot of speculation comes into this, of course. Most notably is the clearly advanced technology evident in FNaF's universe. Expanding on this, the robots here do have sentience! Most are still bound by the laws of their coding, however.  
> In addition, the robots get a couple of upgrades, most notably that they now have a "skin" that fully covers their endoskeleton and a wider range of expression. You can imagine them as anthropomorphic if you want, but a lot of mechanical terminology will be used here.  
> The only other relevant note would be that L.E.F.T.E. and the Marionette are separate people. While other characters are already wriggling their way into the story, we currently only have one star for the show, and that's everyone's favourite Trojan bear!
> 
> Further, chapter-specific notes at the end.

The city of New Albion was a towering mass of concrete slabs and metal supports, starting by the bottom of a mountainside and extending far above its peak. It was the kind of 'large' that the mind simply could not be bothered dedicating energy to understanding, like a lottery prize or the size of the sun. The brain said "yep, that's big." and moved on to more immediate concerns.

An advantage of this size was its incredible range of diversity. All roads led to New Albion. Contained within its walls was a nonsensical assortment of every facet of society, from hardworking farmers to sharply dressed businessmen, and an even more diverse range of mechanoids, all buzzing and whirring their way through daily life. 

And furthermore, very little in New Albion underwent questioning, making it the perfect nesting grounds for unusual, perhaps slightly illegal, long-term projects.

Such as the overused office on the third level of a remodelled apartment complex, where very few bothered to tread, and even less had the sentience to wonder at a locked door that only one man held the keys to. It could take months to find, if someone were so determined, but the contents would be worth it.

The only light in this secluded room was a dull flickering bulb, clinging to the ceiling only by wires and cobwebs. Its feeble glow brushed against towering stacks of papers, two broad metal desks covered with grease and metal parts, and whiteboards as tall as the walls covered in a dense mad scrawl of calculations. The light also barely grazed against fur as dark as the gap between stars, too old and weak to make out more than a gigantic shadow hunched and lifeless in the corner. 

Dust motes swirled lazily through the thick warm air, disturbed by a being that had left some time before, and by one that had arrived only moments ago. They pirouetted and settled tentatively on filing cabinets and blueprints, nuts and bolts, and the being in shadow. The dust was shifted as an even darker Shadow hovered, blank white gaze and thoughtful grin fixed on the lifeless metal. Nothing else moved, seeming to pause in anticipation. This was a moment striven after for long years.

Something took a breath in the dark, like the beginnings of life, like a soul taking hold in an empty vessel.

Silence had been replaced by quiet whirring processors and louder gears, crunching as the shadow straightened out its hunched shoulders and the Shadow disappeared with a self-contented pop!, air rushing to take its place. The room around the disturbed corner began to reassert order, dust falling onto new surfaces and loose papers resettling. 

The shadow opened their eyes, twin beams glowing a bright yellow that overtook the beaten old bulb. They paused, silent and yet to comprehend, taking the room in with wide eyes as each of their senses crept online. They could smell dirt and taste sharp grease, could see the whiteboards and files and parts. Their processors crawled into action, slowly putting objects to names and descriptions.

They could feel, after a moment, their own fur and skin and metal. They twitched, their hand closing into a fist strong enough to crush bone. They didn't yet know their strength, but they took a step forward, mechanics sluggish. Their ears began flicking this way and that, searching for sound, as their snout twitched and eyes darted over the mess of equations. 

They shuffled forward, but knocked over a towering pile of papers, scrambling to stop them but helpless to halt their descent to the floor. They winced but left the mess be, instead distracted by the board. The shadowy figure began tracing the scrawl, not yet up to deciphering but intrigued by the loops and spikes and drawings. They would recall the phrases later, when they were properly awake.  
One particular phrase stood out, tacked onto the board via neon pink sticky note. Five letters had been printed deliberately onto its surface in broad permanent marker, and the figure took some time to figure out their language.

**L.E.F.T.E.** , the note proclaimed. They felt that it was important, somehow, but hadn't yet learnt enough to guess as to why. They were reaching up to pinch the edge of the note between thick, clumsy claws when their ears flicked towards the wall.

 _Thud_ , something had said, beyond the room.

The shadow shot up, locked onto the direction of the sound, eyes wide and pupils thin. Their perked ears bent under the plaster ceiling, but they were too preoccupied to notice. The sound had been instinctively recorded, was now being crunched through their processors to find a match and mimic it. Silently, they padded over, following something tippity-tapping along the other side of the wall. Crouching down once again, they put a paw against the tiles where the noise had paused.

Their sensors picked up a rapidly beating heart and a sudden warm body, alive and kicking just beyond their sight. Startled by the suddenness of the body, they jerked back, before slowly leaning forward again and pressing against the wall. They follow the little beating heart, pressing harder and harder until something gives under their weight and the tiles crack. 

They paused, then sensed the live creature moving away, and pressed back against the wall. The tiles and plaster splintered apart, rotted wooden studs bursting outwards and several feet of material collapsing with a _whoomph_ of dust and asbestos. They were pretty sure walls were not supposed to do that, but hey, it had worked. 

The tiny creature's shuffling brought their attention from filthy plaster to the world around them. They swivelled toward the sound, finally able to identify the heat signature as a tiny bird, watching them with wide curious eyes. The little bird tilted her head, feathers ruffled but otherwise unalarmed, and they mimicked the movement. 

The bird hopped away, _tap, tap, tap,_ and they followed with their own slow footsteps. Outside the room was much brighter, and far colder. Their pitch-black silhouette had been turned into a towering black bear, fur scruffy and dull, with long claws and sharp teeth and intensely bright yellow eyes. If they hadn't been looking about like a child in a candy shop, they would be a menacing figure. 

Outside was pale neutral blue, undecorated but for several too-small identical doors and a brightly patterned carpet. There was a window at the far end of the hall, wide open and letting in the faintest of distant sounds, all of which the bear was listening to with avid attention as they trailed the bird to that wide window. 

The bird chirped, and the bear chirped back, copying the sound and wondering what it meant. The bird hopped onto the windowsill and peered out, chirping at them again.

Leaning out, they saw tall buildings, cracked concrete, dirtied corners. They could easily have reached down and touched the metal grid of a fire escape, and they leant out further, ears swivelling and nose twitching fit to fall off entirely. The bird asked them a question.

They glanced back to the boring pale blue walls, and then held their palm out for the bird to hop onto. When the tiny being was safely cradled in their huge paw, they began clambering out of the window, and away. 

-=-

Henry Emily turned into the corridor where his office resided, looking down at a stuffed notebook and sipping a triple-shot espresso. He glanced up, and stopped.

Where once the hall had been clinically spotless and professionally tasteless, it was now in disarray, marred by a literal hole in the wall just next to the door of his workshop.

The door. To his workshop.

He sat his espresso carefully on the sill of a nearby open window, careful not to spill any because he was increasingly sure he would need it, and jogged down the hall, hardly daring to think-

The workshop was brighter than usual, hollowed out by a stronger light that rendered the chaos in sharp detail. Papers strewn, cabinets knocked, sticky notes upended. Worst of all, though, where once a massive bear animatronic had stood, empty air and dust floated.

Henry dropped his notebook and stared.

"Oh, _shit_."

**Author's Note:**

> New Albion- An entirely fictitious city, which is inspired by many sources, from the Fifth Element's representation of a futuristic New York to Asheim from the Quillblade chronicles. The name 'New Albion' is from a steampunk opera called The Dolls Of New Albion, which is one of my favourites and oddly fitting for the theme of Five Nights. 
> 
> Gears- Strangely, I've seen quite a bit of debate over whether or not animatronics have gears. At the least, in our world they do! Mechanical systems include both gears and hydraulics or pneumatics, sometimes even having a combination of all three. The other main robotic components are the electric system, their skin, and their skeleton. 
> 
> Lefty's blueprints indicate having quite an extraordinary auditory setup. I've expanded on this with a wide range of hearing, and a tendency to record and replay sounds. This is also why they're currently mute- the database they possess at the moment is insufficient for speech. 
> 
> The bird will be a continuing presence throughout at least the next few chapters. She's a blue and white budgerigar, and entirely fearless.
> 
> Henry Emily and Michael Afton will be a driving part of this story's plot! At the moment they have no plans to become prominent characters, however.


End file.
